Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane says he is upbeat about Cristiano Ronaldo's chances of being back for next Wednesday's Champions League semifinal second leg at home to Manchester City.

Ronaldo missed Tuesday's goalless first leg at City's Etihad stadium due to injury, in a game that also saw teammate Karim Benzema forced off after attempting to play despite carrying his own fitness problems.

Madrid had the better chances over the 90 minutes but Jese Rodriguez's header hit the crossbar, and City goalkeeper Joe Hart denied Casemiro and Pepe, so the tie remains finely balanced ahead of the return game at the Santiago Bernabeu next week.

Unconfirmed reports on Spanish TV station Mega after the game claimed that Ronaldo had picked up a new injury in trying to force himself back from a previous thigh problem.

Speaking to that channel after the final whistle, Zidane did not directly answer whether the Portuguese had a new injury, but said the club would take the situation day-by-day and hope that he recovers in time.

"[Ronaldo] felt something at training yesterday," Zidane said. "We did not want to take any risks. And he was not comfortable. That is all. Now we will go day to day with him, and try and get him back as soon as possible. That is the idea. We will look to everything well, and I hope to have him back for the return."

Benzema had tried to contribute despite a knee injury he picked up last weekend at Rayo Vallecano, Zidane said, but his fellow Frenchman had been unable to make it past half-time.

"In the end, he felt something, and it is a pity," he said. "As he wanted to play, and in the end his issue was there again. That is why we took him off at the break. We will have to see what happens with Karim."

Zidane said his team had played cautiously, especially in the first half, but he claimed to be content with their performance.

"Maybe we did not risk too much, but in the end it is a good result," he said. "We fought hard, worked hard, it was a difficult game. We can always improve, you can always want more, but we played a good game over the 90 minutes. We were better in the second half than the first."

An away goal from City at the Bernabeu would complicate things a lot for Madrid, but Zidane said he is not too bothered that his team had failed to score at the Etihad Stadium.

"We are not worried [about away goals]," he said. "The result is good. With those chances, it would've been better to score, but we are not concerned. The return game will be again 50-50. Nothing has changed. We will rest well. We have suffered, run a lot today, all of us, and it is a good result in the end."

Squad players such as Lucas Vazquez and Jese had done well when they were called upon, Zidane said.

"All the players know they are important, and when a player like Cristiano or Karim is out, although it is always better to have them, there are others who come in," he said. "They do well. That is attitude of this group. We will do it all together."

Gareth Bale played down the effect of Ronaldo's injury and expressed confidence for the home leg.

"We knew Cris was injured this afternoon and Karim had a little problem at half-time," he said. "But we're all united as a team and just get on with it.

"For us to keep a clean sheet here is very important, we would have liked to have nicked a goal but it wasn't to be. It opened up a bit in the second half, we were unlucky not to get a few penalties and a goal.

"We were trying to make fewer mistakes than against Wolfsburg, when we went for the kill right away and put ourselves in trouble.

"We're very very strong at home, the crowd get behind us, it's a big pitch and we like to score goals there."

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by Dermot Corrigan

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